Thanks for that zerozero. I used to have bacports source set up already as I was using KDE 4.9.5. It looks that the mess was casued by automatic upgrade of kernel, experimental Nvidia 310.14 and KDE 4.10 at the same time. Mint update had displayed new updates and I just entered root pass without even looking what is listed there. Other KDE upgrades since 4.9.0 went smoothly so I didn't really bother to check if there is new kernel or Nvidia driver listed as there was over 200 packages on the list Will try to "unmess" it in some way.

Installed it and yes, I also suddenly have a new wallpaper when logging in. Is that the change we were waiting for? I didn't.Dolphin: still no variable icons in the places menu. Yes, they can be set to one of 4 fixed values but that is not the same. Why was it changed? Why??Renaming files and folders: still not back to the way it was: a separate small window where the name could be changed. So totally different from all other DE's, making KDE stand out, far above the others. Now it is just one of the others. "In-line" renaming is the new thing! Lose it, cause it looks terrible.

No, the developers did find something to change. Wow, great change. Only one in the totally wrong direction. When copying a file, at the right side of the lower panel you see a circle being filled up. It used to be, and I loved that since it was very clear, a circle which was filled up in a circular movement. Now the circle is filled up from left to right.Are these the kind of changes we are waiting for? Is that all the developers do? Breaking down what was good, breaking down the looks and feel of KDE? Don't have they other things to do? 4.8 was good, then the developers started to lose interest in what they were doing, didn't know anymore what to change so they came up with these nonsense.I hate Gnome since version 3 so I don't want to go back there, but staying here using KDE is something which gets harder and harder since, just as with Gnome who killed Gnome 2, KDE is killing KDE 4. Breaking it down stone by stone.Shame. It was so good.

No more Windows and Gates since Ubuntu 8.04, used 9.04, 10.04, then switched to Kubuntu because of Unity and Gnome 3.After that it is Mint, used 9 till 17 all in KDE version and loving it.

@DeMus - My experience is that I find 4.10 much better than the previous edition i used except for few glitches. I kinna like the new feature where widgets could be added to screensaver. Also, the widgets as such look smoother and desktop doesnt crash often. Nepomuk has improved a lot and is not as buggy as it used to be.

If you find Amarok crashing like for me went to Clementine which is slimmer & older Amarok 2.4But with KDE fell in love with the right click title bar More Actions>Special Window settings for ticking off Remember Size & Position.Quite a time saver for me.

And built in desktop effects are nice tho only use Cube for changing virtual workspaces with the mouse wheel is a time saver..

I upgraded from KDE 4.9 to 4.10 last weekend, as suggested by zerozero, everything went smooth. I love the plasma desktop environment, it really looks and feel great like silk. Thanks for sharing awesome desktop environment.

Is there any downside to adding the ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports repository? What happens when 4.10 hits the main repositories - or does Mint not provide version bumps via the main repositories - would i have to wait for Mint 15 for that?

Ouch. I guess I'm spoiled (I'm a recent convert from PCLinuxOS, which keeps everything up to date via its rolling update policy). So when would KDE 4.10 be expected in Mint. At the next OS release (13.4)? Are Mint version upgrades relatively painless operations?

If I go with the backports, are other things likely to work unpredictably down the road? i.e. is the backports path for those who like adventure?

next mint version is mint 15 and will bring kde 4.10.* by default.there's no upgrade path (not one recommended anyway) in mint; fresh re-installations are the recommended procedure.from this topic you can see that this backport is working fairly well for most; i would recommend follow my instructions near the beginning of the topic though